Persist and Clone Question

[hyc8028]

This came up in one of the EDH game today. My opponent has a Clone and Glen Electra Archmage in play. The clone has copied the mage. What my friend said was he can sac the clone, persist trigger, bring the clone back copied the mage again. The clone then has a -1/-1 counter on it. Was my friend correct? Can someone explain the interaction between Clone creatures and persist mechanics?

[luma]

Your friend was correct. Abilities that trigger on leaving the battlefield (including "when ~ is put into a graveyard from the battlefield"), trigger based on the situation just before the event. When Clone was still on the battlefield, it had Persist, so Persist will trigger and bring Clone back with a -1/-1-counter. As Clone enters the battlefield again, its controller chooses a creature to copy.

[hyc8028]

Ok, thanks for the clarification.